Imagine your body actively creating its own battlegrounds. When I was just 14 years old, I was diagnosed with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 (MEN1)—a rare genetic disorder that causes tumors and cancers to continuously grow throughout the body.

For over two decades, my life has been defined by medical warfare, aggressive treatments, and life-altering surgeries:

The Whipple Procedure (2014): Surgeons removed half of my pancreas, my gallbladder, a portion of my stomach, and part of my small intestine.
Neck operations: I endured three separate operations to strip away tumors invading my thyroid and parathyroids.
Kidney Cancer (March 2022): Diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, requiring immediate tumor ablation.
Total Pancreatectomy (April 2022): Agonizing chronic pancreatitis and recurring tumors forced doctors to remove the entire remainder of my pancreas, as well as my spleen.
Hurthle Cell Cancer: After a diagnosis of this rare, aggressive thyroid cancer, I underwent an exceptionally high-risk, complicated surgery to remove the remainder of my thyroid, navigating dense scar tissue and an already paralyzed vocal cord.

Losing these vital organs changed my biology overnight. Living without a pancreas and without a thyroid means my body cannot regulate itself. I am a completely insulin-dependent Type 1 Diabetic, and I am entirely dependent on pancreatic enzymes (Creon) just to digest a single bite of food.

The Invisible Battle: Living Between Highs and Lows

Managing blood sugar without a pancreas isn't a science; it’s a volatile, terrifying 24/7 guessing game. Even with an insulin pump and a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), my body violently swings between two invisible monsters:

The Fire of Hyperglycemia (Highs): When my blood sugar spikes, it feels like acid is flowing through my veins. It triggers crushing fatigue, blinding headaches, violent nausea, and a suffocating brain fog that makes it hard to speak or think.
The Terror of Hypoglycemia (Lows): A crash drops me to my knees instantly. I shake violently, sweat, and lose orientation. Worst of all, I suffer from hypoglycemia unawareness. My body no longer triggers the adrenaline cues to warn me when I'm crashing. I can go from feeling completely fine to the brink of a fatal medical emergency without warning—especially while I am asleep.

My Greatest Wish: Being a Present Mom

Above all else, I am a mother. I have a beautiful, vibrant 8-year-old son. It breaks my heart how much this disease steals from his childhood. The crushing fatigue and unpredictable blood sugar swings mean I often have to sit on the sidelines of his life. My greatest wish is simple: to have the safety, independence, and peace of mind to be the active mom he deserves.

A Beacon of Hope: Little Angels Service Dogs

There is a lifeline on the horizon. I am incredibly grateful to share that I have been accepted into the Little Angels Service Dogs program.

They provide service dogs trained to assist their recipients living with disabilities. They are a nonprofit organization and are supported financially only through donations. Every donation helps Little Angels Service Dogs reach the goal of training more dogs for recipients like me. The therapeutic benefits of assistance dogs for people with disabilities such as myself are life changing

A fully trained diabetic alert dog can quite literally help save my life. These heroic companions can scent dangerous blood sugar changes before they happen, wake me in the dead of night during a silent crash, and give me back the independence I need to live without a constant grip of fear.

How You Can Help

Because Little Angels Service Dogs raises and trains these specialized dogs entirely through the generosity of donors every single dollar goes directly toward the extensive, professional training of these Service Dogs.

If you are able, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today or sharing my page with your network.

Your support does so much more than fund a service dog—it gives an 8-year-old boy his mother back, and gives me, and others like me, a fighting chance at a safe, healthy future.

From the very bottom of our hearts, thank you for your kindness, your prayers, and your life-changing support

It is important to please always remember to use this solicitation code AD-NE-MI when donating outside of this site with a check, etc. because Little Angels tracks all incoming donations.

To send a check directly to the organization, be sure to write my code '' AD-NE-MI" in the memo section and make checks payable to

Little Angels Service Dogs

PO Box 550 Lakeside, CA 92040

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Little Angels Service Dogs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with an Assistance Dogs International (ADI) accreditation. We provide highly trained assistance dogs to help children and adults living with disabilities to live more independent lives. Our mission is to maximize the innate ability of dogs to give the gift of independence to individuals regardless of disability or age.

Our primary purpose is to change the lives of people living with disabilities by helping them live a more independent life. Approximately 13% of Americans are living with disabilities, and less than 1% of that community use service dogs due to a mix of availability, costs, and barriers for service animals that still exist today. Our goal is to overcome those barriers for people living with disabilities to appropriately match service dogs with their recipients.

We train our service dogs to perform specific tasks and behaviors that mitigate the effects of a person's disability, enabling them to lead more autonomous and fulfilling lives. Results of various studies on the impact service dogs have on their owners living with disabilities have indicated that service dog ownership may include benefits like greater social and emotional health, independence, and overall quality of life.

Our service dogs include psychiatric (civilian and military), seizure alert, diabetic alert, hearing assistance, mobility assistance, and autism assistance. We firmly believe that all disabilities should be regarded with equal importance, irrespective of their visibility. Our team acknowledges our responsibility not only to our service dogs but also to the individuals we serve.

Fighting MEN1: This Mom’s Fight to Get a Life-Changing Service Dog

Fundraising for Little Angels Service Dogs by Michelle N.